Driving like a mad man, Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante) takes a turn too quickly and goes flying off the cliff. Several good Samaritans stop and go check on him. Russel Finch (Milton Berle), Melville Crump (Sid Caesar), Benjy Benjamin (Buddy Hackett), Ding Bell (Mickey Rooney), and Lennie Pike (Jonathan Winters) find him still alive. Before he kicks the bucket (both figuratively and literally!), Grogan tells them of a fortune buried under a big W in Santa Rosita. When the police arrive, the Samaritans don't mention the fortune. Though they make an effort to join forces, they cannot agree on how to divide the buried treasure. It's a race! Unbeknownst to the Samaritans, Grogan was under surveillance and the police quickly realize that Grogan spilled the beans on where to find the loot from a 15 year old heist. Captain Culpepper (Spencer Tracy) of the Santa Rosita Police keeps tabs on all the Samaritans so he can swoop in when they reveal the location.
The movie is a who's who of comedy for the era. In addition to the main players, there is a vast supply of cameos: Jerry Lewis, Don Knotts, Phil Silvers, Buster Keaton, Jim Backus, the Three Stooges, Peter Falk, Norman Fell, Jack Benny, Carl Reiner, and many more. Of course, the movie is a comedy of errors, which are a staple of such movies. Long but lots of fun. Recommended.
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